In 1959, a young Richard Holland packed his bags and took the biggest risk of his short life by leaving Southampton Port and setting afoot the SS Fairsky bound for Australia.
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A self-confessed wanderer with a familial itch for adventure, Richard had caught wind of a new migrant program entitled the Big Brother Movement (BBM), a campaign designed to attract British workers to Australia.
He could hardly have imagined Cootamundra to be his ultimate destination.
“I saw the ad for the BBM in London and I opted straight in,” he said.
“My father left home at 14 and went through France and Germany in World War I aged only 16, plus most of the family had been in the navy.
“I guess I missed out on all that so I was really looking for something to do and somewhere to go.”
With the option of travelling between Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the teenage Richard decided to settled on warmer climes – though not without a few reservations.
“Canada seemed a bit cold for me so I decided to head down under,” he said.
“I remember the parents seeing me off at Southampton and looking off into the sunset thinking, ‘oh my god, what am I doing?”
After a month aboard the SS Fairsky, the apprentice carpenter-joiner found land alongside 30 other boys and immediately journeyed west to the country.
“I just couldn’t afford to keep being an apprentice and live in the city – the low wages were fine but but paying board on top of that wasn't going to work.”
“So I opted for the country life with everything thrown in and the Big Brothers took on the job of guardian I suppose.
“Me and 15 others boys ended up on a training farm out in Fairfield where we did a bit of dairy and tomato growing before people rang in to pick us off for employment and places to live.
“I was there two, thee, four weeks before ending up with a meal ticket and a one-way seat to Cootamundra.
“To be honest, it hasn’t really changed a great deal since then.”
Now living in Casino just outside Ballina, Richard holds fond memories of Cootamundra and tries to keep in touch with his Brothers but believes industry has stagnated since the railway boom.
“We used to drive the tractors and climb ropes down into the mills to shovel out the last parts by hand,” he said.
“Things weren’t so regulated back then – you’d just risk it and learn on the job.
“As for the Brothers, they've all shifted around a bit but there was a Brother across the street from me a while back and we used to chat a fair bit,” he said.
”Coota is a small place and you’d run into each other all the time.
“It’s strange because the town hasn’t gone backwards too much but like every town, there’s regression once the railway started to slow down,” he said.
“Different businesses came and went – it just couldn't seem to get going with new ones though.
As for the Big Brother Movement itself, migrants continue to thrive and reunions are becoming more commonplace.
“Now many of these men are older many would like to reconnect with old friends and expand their social lives,” said BBM youth support manager Libby Daniels.
“To this end, we’re running a reunion in Sydney on the 5th and 6th of November to ensure that anyone who would like to be in contact with fellow ‘Little Brothers’ and rekindle friendships is able to do so.
